Correspondent's Notebook
Radio in Iran
30 May 2008
Deborah Steele, the head of news and current affairs at Radio Australia, last week visited Iran – part of George W Bush’s axis of evil – and whose president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has been accused of inciting genocide by the Australian government.
The reason for my visit? – to attend an International Radio Forum, hosted by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, known as the IRIB, in collaboration with the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union, the ABU.
I was a guest of the IRIB – one of about 12 international speakers.
It was my second visit to Iran – I attended the ABU’s General Assembly in Tehran last November, where President Ahmadinejad referred to the western media as tyrannists, and accused “bullying powers of creating division through their media outlets”.
Iran has had radio for about 70 years. Today it’s described as the “voice of life and culture”.
And according to the head of IRIB radio, Dr Alireza Nouri, “radio waves are tantamount to melodies of cultures and ideologies.” He would like more attention paid to health programming and to radio that improves quality of life.
His deputy, Dr Hasan Khojasteh, who is also vice president of the ABU, called for more moral programs, adding that when a program is moral, it is better. He also said the relationship between radio and new technologies was very positive.
The backdrop to this industry dialogue, was Iran’s ongoing presence in the international headlines.
US President Bush reiterated his claim that Iran wants a nuclear weapon to destroy people and that the Islamic Republic could be hiding a secret program.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies in Britain warned that Iran’s disputed nuclear program has sparked interest in atomic energy across the Middle East, creating the risk for a regional nuclear arms race.
Reporters Without Borders criticised the Iranian government for falsely trying to improve the country’s image by shutting down at least 14 feminist websites, summoning their editors before courts and ordering Internet service providers to censor content.
The international press freedom organisation said the government was “preparing for next year’s presidential election by removing online material it did not like.”
It says says Iran has the biggest number of threatened cyber-dissidents in the Middle East and dozens of websites are shut down each year.Nine journalists are currently detained in Iran.
Meanwhile Amnesty International appealed for the Head of the Judiciary in Iran to ensure prompt and impartial appeals hearings against the convictions and sentences of six women’s rights defenders.
The organisation also urged the Head of the Judiciary to ensure that the flogging sentences imposed on the women are not implemented.
Back to the conference, in beautiful, sunny Isfahan. Our hosts were hospitable and generous. The sightseeing was magnificent. And there were moments when bridges were built – We exchanged information, we shared ideas, we discussed commonalities and broadened our understanding of the differences. There were people with a world view keen to share their insights and those who said only what they had to. There were laughs and furrowed brows.
And those of us from the “West” showed that we weren’t the evil Western tyrannists described by their president.
